I am currently ow certified with SSI and was wondering if i could get my advance certification and specialties with PADI or some other agency. if so which agency is the best for specialites and advance certification. who offers the more specialties..

first off yes you can get adv cert through another agency. You will need to prove that you are basic ow certified. As for the second part of the question, most agencies offer similar adv training. But it does vary a bit on where you go (ie where in the country/world) I suggest go to the prospective stores/instructors and talk to them about what the specialties they offer are, if they have any that are out of the ordinary and if they are the ones you want.GL

Totally agree with Toothpickman on his comments, and would only add that there is also some varience depending on the instructor.

Just this past weekend, I completed the PADI Advanced o/w "adventure" dives toward getting my c-card. My experience with the instruction was okay, but I felt some of the book review was a bit rushed.

Before I left for home, I got the chance to chat with another instructor from the same store who teaches the SDI (Scuba Diving International) courses. He explained for me and a recently certified o/w certified diver what the SDI advanced course entailed and the differences between SDI & PADI. The nuts and bolts of it is that the SDI involves a bit more classwork and 2 dives each on the 5 "specialties" that you experience (such as search recovery, navigation, night dive, etc).

From his explanation, his curriculum sounded a bit more thorough than the PADI course I had just completed. And since the reason for the instruction was to increase my knowledge and skill as a diver, I now would have preferred to go through the SDI curriculum. And I am considering asking the shop how we can work this.

So, in a nutshell, Toothpickman is correct, the information taught with the advanced certs range wide and far, so be sure to not only interview the shop, but the instructor as well.

quote:Originally posted by TexasMike:Totally agree with Toothpickman on his comments, and would only add that there is also some varience depending on the instructor.

Just this past weekend, I completed the PADI Advanced o/w "adventure" dives toward getting my c-card. My experience with the instruction was okay, but I felt some of the book review was a bit rushed. Since the original instructor had other obligations and could not do the night and recovery dives, he had one of the other instructors at the lake do those. And their knowledge review, dive brief, and debrief were more thorough.

Thus my statement that the instruction you receive also varies with the instructor.

Before I left for home, I got the chance to chat with another instructor from the same dive shop who teaches the SDI (Scuba Diving International, [url=http://www.tdisdi.com]www.tdisdi.com[/ur]) courses. He explained for me and a recently certified o/w certified diver what the SDI advanced course entailed and the differences between SDI & PADI. The nuts and bolts of it is that the SDI involves a bit more classwork and 2 dives each on the 5 "specialties" that you experience (such as search recovery, navigation, night dive, etc).

From his explanation, his curriculum sounded a bit more thorough than the PADI course I had just completed. And since the reason for the instruction was to increase my knowledge and skill as a diver, I now would have preferred to go through the SDI curriculum. And I am considering asking the shop how we can work this.

So, in a nutshell, Toothpickman is correct, the information taught with the advanced certs range wide and far, so be sure to not only interview the shop, but the instructor as well.

Also, I found the course description for the SDI advanced course. This is provided to give you more information on their view of things.

quote:From the SDI websiteAdvanced Diver Development Program

The SDI Advanced Diver Development Program was created to make truly “Advanced Divers”. Under the old way of training a student could take an Advanced Course right after an Open Water course and only have a total of 9 dives all under the direct training of an instructor. The SDI Advanced Diver Development program requires a new Open Water student to take 4 SDI specialties or equivalent, along with having a total of 25 dives. SDI feels a diver will truly be “Advanced” after this is accomplished.